Ever popular with our community, this monthly series explores the most interesting acquisitions, financings and partnerships within the food tech and media ecosystem. It offers insights on the latest funding and growth trends, and covers everything from digital content and grocery to e-commerce and mobile payments.

Connected kitchen devices took this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) by storm. From smart refrigerators and interoperability apps to futuristic cook tops and even a smart crock pot, its clear that big brands like Whirlpool, Samsung and LG have their eggs in the smart kitchen basket.

We examine Phil Lempert’s food industry foresights for 2014 to see how they relate to food tech, covering trends like healthy snacking, alternative proteins and consumer demand for greater transparency when it comes to our food.

From new investment funds, to accelerator programs, to crowdfunding platforms, 26 new private food and agriculture funding sources launched 2013. Learn more about them in this easy-to-reference list, and make sure to stay tuned for our 2014 funding sources list coming soon.

Our annual report looks at the financing and acquisition trends in the Food Tech & Media ecosystem. Increasing deal activity and deal sizes resulted in $1.6b of investment in 2013 and $2.8b over two years.

Unlike its competitors, which have high overhead costs, the 2-year old startup dodged costly infrastructure investments by partnering with major retailers like Whole Foods and Costco. In this startup profile, we dive into Instacart’s business model, growth and plans for expansion.

Food delivery startups pulled in massive investment in 2014. Last Spring alone, a whopping $177 million (sum of investments in article) was pumped into startups including Munchery, Sprig, Kitchensurfing and Blue Apron.

Co-founder and co-CEO Nick Taranto chats about his company’s model and mission in this video from our “Business of Meal Kit Subscriptions” Meetup. We also dive into Plated’s fundraising process and plans for growth in the Q&A that follows.

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These articles provide a in-depth look at some of the innovative business models we’ve profiled this year. Many of them also fall under the game-changing food trends we flagged for 2015.